Surfleet

• Many parish records can be found at the Spalding Library.

• The parish was in the Gosberton sub-district of the Spalding Registration District.
   
• We have the complete 1891 Census for Gosberton and Surfleet (some Enum. Districts overlap).
   
• We have a partial surname index for the 1901 Census. Your additions are welcome.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• The Anglican parish church was dedicated to St. Lawrence (also commonly found as "St. Laurance").
   
• The church includes some Norman work.
   
• The church was restored between 1900 and 1908.
   
• The church seats 276.
   
• Yes, the church tower is "The Leaning Towe of Laurance". The spire is about six feet out of alignment due to subsidence.
   
• There is a photograph of St. Lawrence's Church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
   
• Another photo of the parish church can be found at Currant Bun site listed on our Church Photographs page.
   
• Here is a photo of Saint Laurance's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
   

• Anglican parish registers exist from 1562 (some sources give 1662).
   
• The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the West Elloe Deanery.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists and Free Methodists had chapels in Surfleet.
   
• There is a Wesleyan Chapel at Seas-end.
   
• For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.

• The parish was in the Gosberton sub-district of the Spalding Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.

Surfleet is both a village and parish 97 mioles north of London city, four miles north of Spalding and southwest of Boston that includes the hamlet of Surfleet Seas-End. The parish is bounded on the northwest by Gosberton parish and on the south by Pinchbeck parish. The River Welland and the River Glen provide a boundary line on the southwest edge of the parish. The area is just over 4,060 acres of flat fenland, drained by many small canals.

If you are planning a visit:

• The A16 trunk road passes through the parish.
   
• Ian S. has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2011,
   
• There are three "traditional" bridges across the River Glen in the village. One carries the B1356 thru the heart of the village.
   
• The Reedbed there is now a wetland preserve of the National Nature Preserve.
   
• See our touring page for visitor services.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Surfleet to another place.

• Tim HEATON has a photograph of the Riverside Inn (just east of the village) on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2006.
   
• J. THOMAS has a photograph of The Mermaid Inn on geo-graph, taken in April, 2012. IF you see a Mermaid on exiting the Inn, you might ask someone to take you home.
   
• Alex McGREGOR has a photograph of the Sufleet Beacon on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2015.
   

• Cressy Hall, near Risegate Eau is a handsome mansion.
   
• The Manor House was rebuilt by Sir Henry HERON who died in 1695. It was destroyed by fire in 1792 and again rebuilt.
   
• The Manor House was burnt down about 1820 and was again rebuilt.
   
• Cressy Hall lies about 3 miles west of the village.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF251282 (Lat/Lon: 52.836373, -0.143938), Surfleet which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The list of military men who died in the World Wars can be found on the Surfleet War Memorial.

• The name Surfleet is from the Old English sur+fleot, or "Sour Stream". In the 1086 Domesday Book, the village is given as Sverefelt and in 1167 as Surfleit.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]

• The parish was in the ancient Elloe Wapentake in the South Holland district and parts of Holland.
   
• Alex McGREGOR has a photograph of Surfleet Village Hall on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2015. Stop in when they are open and ask to see a schedule of forth-coming events.
   
• For today's district governance, visit the South Holland District Council site.

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Kirton and Skirbeck petty session hearings.
   
• The Common Land was inclosed here in 1777, with 27 acres set aside for the poor.
   
• In 1810, Samuel EISDALE let a charity that provided £9 in 1843 to distribute to the poor as food, clothing and the like.
   
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Spalding Poor Law Union.
   
• The parish also had enough poor land set aside to generate about £100 in 1900 for distribution to the poor.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	609
1811	658
1831	871
1841	951
1851	945
1871	1,069
1891	979
1901	945
1911	1,010

• The Free school was founded and endowed in 1764 by Lady Ann Fraser. The schoolmaster's income was about 40 pounds a year, for which he taught about 20 free students. This school closed in 1877.
   
• The Public Elementary School was built in 1878 to hold up to 130 children.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.